ATLANTA -

Dealer chat network Contact At Once and car dealer review website DealerRater have announced a new collaboration to boost real-time dealer-buyer communications.

The two companies say the partnership can enable real-time chat between DealerRater Certified Dealer partners and online shoppers researching dealer reputation and vehicles via consumer reviews on DealerRater.com.

“Our third-party generated dealer reviews and ratings have helped car shoppers to determine and validate which dealerships they would like to do business with,” said Chip Grueter, president of DealerRater. “We believe that the integration of Contact At Once chat will enable our certified dealers to connect with in-market consumers in a way that is faster and more convenient than an email or a phone call, and ultimately will provide an enhanced shopping experience for our consumer user base.”

The Contact At Once dealer chat network includes third-party listing sites such as AutoTrader.com and Edmunds.com, plus manufacturer websites, standalone dealership and dealer group Web pages.

Dealers using the chat software typically experience an increase of at least 25 percent in the number of online shoppers contacting the dealership, the company reports, and can respond to consumer chats originating from anyplace in the dealer chat network by leveraging a single set of tools and processes.

“Dealerships are looking for simplicity when it comes to chat,” explained Contact At Once director of business development Lloyd Hecht. “By embedding our automotive chat solution, DealerRater has greatly simplified things for their clients. Dealers can now utilize a single chat solution to manage chats originating from their DealerRater listing, the dealership’s own website as well as the third party and OEM websites that are part of the Contact At Once dealer chat network.”

Contact At Once chat is now available to DealerRater Certified Dealers, service centers and body shops.